Our friends over at Military.com’s Kit Up! have followed up on their story about the Army’s medium rucksack program which resembles an over sized MOLLE assault pack. The Army produced three competing designs that differed in the frame style and the “external” frame won. Here, unveiled for the first time is this revolutionary new frame designed by Down East.
The first thing that should strike you is that the frame is open at the top. The sewn portions of the pack are designed to provide stability between the tops of the frame arms, while allowing the frame to form around body armor, water reservoirs, etc. This approach allows plenty of ventilation while efficiently transferring load to the hips. The frame system retains the trampoline style belt foundation of the larger MOLLE system while providing adjustment options in both the shoulder pads and belt. The frame weights less than a pound and is made of ITW’s high performance, frag-resistant polymer; the same used in the current MOLLE2 Large system.
As you can see the new frame is in TAN499 to match MultiCam. The new medium rucksack will be manufactured by BAE and possibly Eagle under the MOLLE program. The ruck is currently only slated for issue to Afghanistan bound troops who should begin to receive them this summer.